Ivy snickered as he watched Chancey swagger off. “I think I called him a little weasel during one of our arguments a while ago. He gotsobent out of shape about it. Guess that explains why.”
I leaned forward. “So… are you two back together?”
“It’s complicated,” Ivy confessed, and he dropped his gaze. “We’re taking it slow. It’s… not like it used to be.”
“It’s going to take some time. You have to build that trust back again,” Charlie said. “Taking it slow is probably good, for now.”
“I guess so.” Ivy sighed. “I just wish we didn’t have to start over from the ground up.”
“Ground up can be a pretty good place to start,” I said with a smile, and put my hand on top of Charlie’s.
“It feels more like ground zero, honestly.” Ivy rubbed his face. “I wish these stupid headaches would go away.”
“You’ve done a lot of good work, and we’re all proud of you,” I said. “If you feel like you’re slipping, you can always talk to one of us.”
“I really want to be done this time. The last round really fucked me up… and it nearly cost me Chance. Might still, if we can’t find a way to work things out.” Ivy poked listlessly at his food. “It’s so awkward now. I love him, and I forgive him for what he did. But it’s way harder to forget that he did it. But I can’t say nothing, because what I’ve done is just as bad, if not worse.”
“He didn’t cheat on you because he wanted to sleep with somebody else. He did it because he was fucked in the head, and was really hurting,” Charlie said. “Not that it makes it right, but I know Chancey loves you. It’ll take some time, but you guys can move past this together.”
“Yeah, well… I guess we’ll see.” Ivy gave a shrug and stood up. He dumped the rest of his food in the trash and walked away, clutching his textbooks to his chest.
“I feel so bad for Ivy,” I said as I gave a sigh. “Cheating’s the end of any relationship.”
Charlie shook his head. “I don’t think it has to be.”
“No?”
“Infidelity is super hard to recover from, and they’ve made some pretty terrible choices, but at heart, they’re both good people. I think if they can pull through this, it’ll actually make them stronger.”
“They don’t just have that going against them. They’re both fighting addiction, too.”
It really looked like they were doomed to separate, but Charlie grasped my hand and said, “We know how they feel about each other. If they can recover from this, they’ll be able to get through anything, and I don’t think either of them can live without the other.”
“Kind of like you and me, huh?”
“Maybe a little bit.”
You two should stop being gooey and get me some more eggs, Oberi complained from under the table.Five wasn’t enough.
After we were done eating, we headed to Hemlock’s hidden room in order to partake in our demigod lesson at one o’clock. When we entered the room, the Christmas tree that Charlie had created was still there. It had failed to fade away or lose any signs of realness, thriving like a real tree would. When he’d imagined it, Charlie had put it into a pot, so the roots anchored the tree into the dirt. I touched it and found the soft needles of the tree gave actual feeling to my hand.
“It’s been weeks since you created the tree, and it’s still around,” I told Charlie. “Illusions can be permanent, but magic has to be constantly funneling into them from a caster or an outside source to stay real. You haven’t touched this tree in ages. It’s completely self-sustaining.”
“Guess I’m not as terrible at illusions as I thought,” Charlie said, and he reached out to touch a white bulb hanging from the middle of the tree.
Marcus was working on a spray paint creation that spanned across the wall, which was over eight feet tall. It was a ghoulish-looking biped, with long fur all over its body, pointed ears, and claws that curled upwards instead of downwards. Fans stuck out of the top of its mouth, and it had a long snout with yellow eyes. It appeared quite fierce.
Kallie sat on top of the round table, shaking a toy mouse on a stick for Rishi to play with. I noticed Takahashi and Hemlock weren’t here.
Marcus and Kallie both looked tired. They must’ve spent all day talking. Guess there was a lot to go over, after you learned you’d been together in a past life and had died trying to do the right thing together. I didn’t know how they managed to handle the implications of such a reality. I mean, Marcus had already died for her and for one of the keys already.
Let’s make sure that doesn’t happen again, Oberi noted, catching my thoughts.
I described the painting to Charlie as we approached Marcus. Paint covered his skin, hair and clothes. He really lost himself when he was in the middle of a project.
“What is that thing?” I asked as we stopped beside the painting.
“Kallie told me about them. They’re fae monsters calledgrimsprites,” Marcus informed me. “They spend their time picking berries and living in small communities. They’re not typically malicious, unless you invade their grove. Then they pluck out your insides and cook them while you’re still alive.”
